


things will never be the same (and that's okay)

by Anonymous



Category: BBC Radio 1 RPF, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Drama Student Louis, Fluff, M/M, Music Student Harry, Open Relationships, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-06
Updated: 2015-10-06
Packaged: 2018-04-25 02:37:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4943452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis and Harry are a finished puzzle. Until they find the piece they didn't know they needed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	things will never be the same (and that's okay)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fucksinglelouis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/fucksinglelouis/gifts).



> im so sorry if this seems rushed or not at all what you wanted, but i really hope you like it! I chose your Stylinshaw prompt, because I'm both a sucker for Stylinshaw and a sucker for Uni AUs. I hope you don't mind that there's no smut, I was in a bit of a rush! 
> 
> title is taken from first time by icona pop:)

Louis taps his pen against his notebook, trying his hardest to focus on the lesson. He's been dozing in and out throughout the full hour and a half and he's not exactly sure why. This was usually one of the classes he was interested, but today he just wasn't feeling it. 

 

He glances down at the time on his phone and bites his lip. Fifteen minutes left of this lecture and then he could go back to his dorm and lay in bed, regretting the missed lesson from this class and frantically texting Zayn to send him the notes for when he has the class later that day. Maybe he just needed a day off, spend  day to himself and not worry about any of his other lectures and exams. He could slack off for one day, right?

 

He looks back up, chewing on the bottom of his pen and sighing. He contemplates sneaking out of class earlier, making his way to his bed and sweet sleep much faster, but he needs a good grade in this class and he doesn't want to do anything to sabotage that. He just wanted this class to be over and done so he can go back to his dorm. Maybe invite over Harry if he didn't have any other plans for the day. He thinks Harry's classes were done for the day, he'd have to go check his boyfriend's schedule again.

 

Him and Harry had been dating for nearly three years now, the relationship starting when they were both sixteen and in high school. Now, the two of them were in their first year of University and their relationship was still stronger than ever. Louis was a Drama major, while Harry himself was a Music major. They had signed up for only one English class together, but besides that they only saw each other on their rare free day.

 

Due to their lack of seeing each other once school had started, they decided it had been best for the both of them to still be allowed to sleep with other people. Their schedules were rarely ever in sync with the other's and they both trusted each other enough to have an open relationship. If anything, it had made their relationship last longer, the two of them not having to worry about the other getting bored or tired of them. It worked. 

 

"Hey- Lewis?" Someone from beside him says, snapping Louis out of his daze. Louis frowns at the mispronunciation of his name, something in his head telling him just to ignore it until the person gets his name right. It's like this was  _hard_ , his name was pronounced like it was spelled, right? Lou-ie. Who looks at Louis and decides it's  _Lewis?_  


"It's Louis," He mumbles, turning to his right. "May I help you?"

 

"Louis, sorry," The guy says and Louis raises an eyebrow. He was already tired and right now it wouldn't take much to make him annoyed. "M'Nick. And- I sort of dropped my pen and it's rolled too far for me to grab. Have you got an extra one?"

 

Louis sighs and hands him one of his extra pens, turning back around. "You can keep it," Louis mumbles, tapping his pen on his text book and attempting to keep himself occupied for the remaining ten minutes left of this lecture. He glances back at Nick for a minute and bites his lip. Maybe he was slightly ruder than necessary, but he was tired and annoyed and he didn't need people bothering him when he'd rather be anywhere but here right now. 

 

"You alright?" Nick asks a couple seconds later. Louis frowns, stopping the tapping of his pencil and turning back around with a raised eyebrow. "Just- You seem a bit off."

 

"M'fine, thanks," Louis mutters. "Just tired." He didn't want to do this right now. He didn't want to talk or interact with anyone right now, he wanted to get up and leave. He glances up a the clock and sighs when he sees that there's another five minutes left of the lecture. "Don't really wanna talk right now."

 

"We don't have to talk now, then-" Louis thanks him silently. "After class?" Never mind. 

 

"Is this your attempt at flirting with me?" He asks, suddenly seeming amused. "Because you're really shit at it." He smirks and looks back at the clock, practically counting down to the seconds where he could finally leave. 

 

"Am I? I thought I was doing pretty well, to be honest." 

 

Louis considers using the boyfriend excuse for a minute, not wanting to deal with the unwanted attention. But was the attention really unwanted right now? He was tired and irritated, maybe what he needed right now was a slight pick me up. Just something that could get him through the rest of his day without wanting to kill someone. Sex is usually good for that. When it comes to Louis, anyways. 

 

"You weren't," Louis says, biting his lip. "But I don't think I mind." He smirks a bit, shoving his books in his bag and standing up when everyone else does. He gives Nick  look before slinging his bag over his shoulder and leaving the classroom. He waits beside the door for a minute, tapping his fingers against his thigh until Nick comes out the classroom and pulls him into one of the bathrooms. 

 

* * *

 

"I met someone after class yesterday," Louis says to Harry, flipping through one of the pages in his text book. "He helped me relax." He knows Harry knows what he means when he says that. Harry always knows what he means, because neither of them really like says ' _I fucked someone else today'._  So they both sort of speak in code and the other always just knows. 

 

Harry glances up from his phone and raises an eyebrow, smirking slightly. "Did he? What was his name?" Louis rolls his eyes and shrugs, turning around in his desk chair to face Harry. "What was he like, then?"

 

"Nick. Was kind of annoying. Cute, though. Tall. Really stupid hair."

 

"You really have a way with words, you know? I knew I loved you for a reason," Harry says. Louis throws his pencil at Harry as the other boy laughs and smirks. "Write me poetry," He taunts, grabbing the pencil and waving it towards Louis. Louis flips him off and turns back towards his text book. "You are such a terrible boyfriend, you know that? Shower me in loving words. Sing me songs. Serenade me."

 

Louis scoffs and continues in his attempt to copy notes from his text book. He momentarily asks himself why he thought having Harry over during his study time was a good idea. Trick question, it wasn't. He gets distracted too easy. "You're the music one, I'm the dramatic one, I think you've got it confused right now."

 

Harry laughs, tossing the pencil at Louis's back and sitting on the edge of the bed. "I think I might know the Nick you're talking about, though. Met him at a party last week. I told you about that, right? Cool guy."

 

"You called him cool, might not be the same guy," Louis smirks. He stands up from his desk and goes to sit beside Harry on his bed, laying his head on his shoulder. "He was like- Alright. We didn't exactly spend much time talking."

 

"I talked to him for a bit," Harry says, pressing a kiss to the top of Louis's head and scrolling through his phone. "S'that him?" He asks, showing Louis a picture off twitter. Louis nods and Harry cards his fingers through the boy's hair. "Funny guy. You should talk to him, you'd like him, Lou."

 

"You sound like you're trying to set me up on a date," Louis teases, poking at Harry's side. "Next lecture, I'll talk to him, I guess. He looked a bit pretentious, though. I might insult him a bit." Harry rolls his eyes while Louis just grins and shoves his shoulder, kissing him lightly. "We're making friends with our hook ups, now." He mumbles. Harry smacks his shoulder, kissing him again and smiling softly.

 

Louis liked what him and Harry had. He loved how comfortable it was between the two of them, how freely they could talk about being with other people and it wouldn't bother either of them in the slightest. He'd only been in one other relationship before Harry, but he wasn't sure if he'd really count it as one. It was more as an experimental thing for him, trying to figure out if he liked boys or not. And he did, thankfully, but just not the boy he had been in the relationship with.

 

Him and Harry had just  _clicked_  when they met. Louis had been sat outside of the drama room after rehearsal, waiting for his mum to pick him up and Harry had offered to give him a ride home/ They were pretty much inseparable after that, one rarely being seen without the other. Louis had broken up with his boyfriend a week or two later, neither of them feeling any heartbreak after he had asked Harry out on an  _official_  date. The next few years had just sort of flown by, after that. 

 

"You need more friends besides Zayn," Harry points out. 

 

"You sound like my mum."

 

"I'm not wrong." And well. Louis can't argue with that. Not that he wants to. Besides Harry, Zayn was Louis longest and closest friend. He really didn't need anyone else besides him and Harry.

 

He lays back on his bed and stares at Harry, sticking his tongue out at him. "Fine. I'll make nice with the annoying boy." He grabs Harry's arm and pulls him down beside him, burying his face in his neck and tangling their legs together. "You're a horrible cuddler. V'gotta do all the work. Tragic." Harry laughs and shakes his head, pulling Louis in closer.

 

* * *

 

"My boyfriend says he knows you," Louis says to Nick at the end of their next lecture together. Nick's eyes widen at the sentence, sitting up quickly in a panic. Thinking back on it, that probably isn't the best way to start a conversation with someone you had slept with a few days prior.

 

"Boyfriend? You didn't tell me you had a boyfriend. I wouldn't have-" He starts, his voice startled and panicky. Louis finds it oddly endearing, in some sort of way. 

 

"Relax," He interrupts, putting his notebook and text book back intk his bag. "We have an open relationship. Actually, I think you slept with him, too."

 

At this point, Nick is confused and Louis knows it. He kind of loves it, as well. People didn't exactly understand the basis of Louis and Harry's relationship. If you explained to anyone outside their social circle, they'd probably see it as infidelity. Harry's aunt had gone as far as to say Louis didn't love Harry enough to  _want_  to stay loyal. From this accusation, you could most likely assume that Louis and Harry's aunt did not get along very well. Louis tends to stay away from her when Harry takes him home for the holidays. 

 

It's a pain in the ass, having to explain over and over that him and Harry still do love each other  _very much_ , that it doesn't change just because they allow themselves to sleep with other people. It took both their mum's a minute to get used to it, as well as Gemma, Harry's sister, and Louis's sisters. Although, once they had explained it to the people who mattered, it wasn't really an issue, anymore. They didn't exactly care as long as Harry and Louis were happy.

 

This, though. The confusion new people have when Louis tells this, it's sort of fuels him. He loves knowing things that other people don't. Being one step ahead of everyone in the game. Gives his already too big ego a bit of a boost. 

 

"His name is Harry. He's very pretty, charming, all that. Like a Disney Prince," Louis goes on, while Nick stares at him with a strange expression. Louis's seen that look numerous times from different people, him and Harry make fun of it a lot. "He says you're a funny lad. That I need more  _friends._ I don't, but I'd told him I'd try, so." 

 

He stares at Nick and raises an eyebrow, waiting for him to speak.

 

"Okay, what?" Is all Nick says and Louis sighs.

 

"Harry and I have been together for three years. Once we got to Uni, we decided we'd have an open relationship. Does that make sense?" He explains, tapping his fingers on the desk. Nick nods slowly, seeming slightly less confused. "Anyways, I'm Louis Tomlinson and I'm a drama major. First year."

 

"What'd you say your boyfriend's name was?" Nick asks, seeming slightly distracted. Louis stands up and gestures for Nick to follow him as he begins walking out of the room. He's gonna go ahead and assume that Nick had free time after this. If not then, oh well. Looks like he'd have to deal with it.

 

"Harry. Harry Styles. He's a music major. He goes to a lot of parties, so that probably wasn't the only one you've seen him at," Louis says, his voice trailing fond at the end of his sentence. He could go on for days about Harry. How pretty he is, how much he loves him, how much he adores him, how ridiculous his jokes are and so on. Except he's already missing most of this lecture already, so he'll keep it at a minimum.

 

"Yeah- Yeah, I remember him. He's your boyfriend?"

 

Louis nods, smirking slightly. "Nearly three years now. Anyways, he gets along with everyone. Me, on the other hand, I'm nore picky when it comes to people I'm associated with."

 

"Clearly not picky enough since you let me-"

 

Louis narrows his eyes and Nick stops mid sentence, raising his hands in surrender. So far? This wasn't exactly going well for Nick. He'd have to go and ask Harry when exactly he started being this "cool" and "funny" guy, because Louis's just not seeing what Harry supposedly saw.

 

"What's your major?" Louis asks, switching the topic of conversation. Maybe they just needed to start somewhere else. The thing is, it's never a case of people not liking Louis. It's the other way around. Everyone loves Louis, it's a fact. All of his professors love him, his friends, his family, anyone, really. It's not hard for him to win someone over. It is, in fact, hard for someone to win Louis over, though. He has friend standards and not very many people can meet them. 

 

"English."

 

"Hm," Louis hums, thinking it over. "What year?"

 

"Third." 

 

"Interesting."

 

Nick stops the two of them in the hallway and crosses his arms. "Is this some sort of evaluation? Am I being tested?"

 

Louis shrugs. "Like I said, I'm picky," He excuses, beginning to walk again with Nick right beside him. "I heard English majors are pretentious. My mate Zayn dated an English major once. It was hell for everyone."

 

"That's got nothing to do with being an English major. That's like saying all Drama majors are dramatic," Nick argues. Louis stares at him for a few seconds and raises an eyebrow.

 

"We are, though," Louis reminds, smirking. "It's why we're  _drama_  majors."

 

"Look, can we just like, I don't know. Stop trying to get to know each other and make out somewhere?" Nick asks, sounding desperate for this conversation to end. Louis purses his lips and shrugs, grabbing Nick's arm and pulling him down the hallway. Him and Nick may be able to get along, after all. 

 

* * *

 

Harry rests his arm around Louis's shoulder while they're walking down the street a couple of weeks later, Louis humming along to a song they had heard on the radio on their way to lunch. It had only been the first semester of school, but  _everyone_ knows that Louis and Harry are really  _LouisandHarry._ Regardless of them sleeping with other people or not. They were each other's and that's the way it was always going to be.

 

"I like him," Louis says, glancing up at Harry from his phone. "Nick, I mean." 

 

Harry hums and presses his nose in Louis's hair, leaving a kiss and smiling softly. "Really? Told you."

 

"How much do  _you_  like him, though?" 

 

Harry raises an eyebrow and shrugs. "We get on well, I think. He likes the same music I do. You know, the stuff that you call-"

 

"Pretentious, hipster shit, right," Louis smirks, looking back down at his phone. "Was just wondering, though." He bites his lip. "Should hang out, all three of us." He looks back up and Harry's got a smug look on his face. He smacks his chest, rolling his eyes and shoving his phone in his pocket. "That's  _not_ what I meant." Harry still has the smirk on his face and Louis can already tell that he's not going to hear the end of this.

 

"It may be. May not be. Who knows?" Harry says, grinning. Louis smacks his chest again, wrapping his arms around his waist. "I was wondering, though. Do you think maybe, like, we'd be better with Nick?" 

 

Louis blinks and frowns. "What do you mean?"  

 

Harry shrugs. "Don't know. I mean, don't get me wrong, Lou, you're all I'll ever  _need_. But I feel like, we both like Nick, so maybe..."

 

"We  _add_ him to our relationship?" Louis asks. He bites his lip and thinks about it, not sure where he stands on the matter. He thinks maybe he should feel offended, as though this is Harry's way of saying that he's not enough for him, but he knows that's not at all what Harry had meant by it. He knows he's always been enough for Harry and vice versa and he knows he kind of...agrees with what he's saying right now. 

 

"Yeah- Basically," Harry says, looking down at Louis. "I mean, it doesn't matter. Forget I brought it up." He shakes his head and smiles softly. Louis stops them and looks up at Harry.

 

"No, I think...I wouldn't mind it," He says slowly, making sure he's saying what he means. "We could ask, I guess? Like, is that a thing?" 

 

"Maybe. Don't know. Could look it up. And we should talk to him." Harry suggest and Louis nods, starting to lead the two of them down the sidewalk again while starting to hum the song again.

 

* * *

 

"A what?" Nick asks, looking up at Louis and Harry from where he's sat on Louis's bed. Louis's sat at his desk studying, while Harry's sat on one of the chairs, having decided he'd be the one to do most of the explaining to Nick. Louis wasn't usually much help in the explanation department. He tends to get annoyed when people don't get things the first time around. Harry's more patient when it comes to things like that. 

 

"It's - Louis what's is called?" Harry asks, looking towards the other boy. 

 

"Polyamorous, H," Louis says without looking up from his text book. Him and Harry had spent the entire night before researching things and looking them up, Harry bookmarking everything on his phone to show to Nick later. The two of them had gone from only thinking of it as an idea to both of them realizing that this was something that they really wanted and hoped that Nick wanted, too.

 

Harry nods and looks back at Nick. "A polyamorous relationship. Lou and I looked it up last night. It's...What is it again, Louis?"

 

Louis sighs and turns in his chair. "A relationship that involves more than two people and is completely consenting from everyone involved. Look," He says, raising an eyebrow. "Do you want to be in a relationship with us or not?" He asks, looking between both Harry and Nick. This right here is why Harry doesn't like letting Louis do any of the explaining. A completely perfect example.

 

"A relationship," Nick says slowly, staring at Harry and Louis. "With the both of you? And this isn't a joke?" Louis rolls his eyes and looks over at Harry, an annoyed expression falling over his face.

 

"This was a waste of time, wasn't it? I'm going back to studying," He mutters, turning around and going back to his text books.

 

"Is he really this dramatic all the time?" Nick asks, pointing to Louis. Harry shrugs while Louis scoffs and flips him off. "I was going to say  _yes,_ Tomlinson."

 

Louis pauses and sits up, turning hesitantly. "Really?" He asks after a moment of silence, biting his lip and staring at Nick. "You're not just saying that?" He hopes he doesn't come off as desperate, but he glances at Harry and sees the slight smirk on his face that shows that he does, in fact, sound desperate. He didn't mean to, he doesn't usually get like this, but after researching everything with Harry and thinking about things, he's realized this is something he really wants. And it'd be kind of shit if he didn't get it. 

 

"I mean it," Nick says, smiling at him and Harry. "Besides, then I'd be able to brag about having two fit boyfriends," He teases and Louis rolls his eyes, getting up from his chair and tackling Nick on the bed. 

 

"Hazzaaa," Louis calls, laughing when the other boy joins them on the bed. "The three of us, then," He says, smiling. Harry and Nick both nod, pressing a kiss on either side of Louis's cheek while Louis's smile widens. "Wicked."


End file.
